Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Ever since the advent of the VCR, consumers have been finding ways to bypass commercials, so advertising agencies have had to step up their use of product placement. In The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, writer-director Morgan Spurlock (with co-writer Jeremy Chilnick) takes viewers behind-the-scenes as he documents his attempts to get Madison Avenue to fund his film. After a flood of rejections, the filmmaker lands a series of meetings with companies willing to align their brand with his. Spurlock's entertaining and enlightening journey even leads him to a juice purveyor that agrees to open its wallet in return for placement above the title (hence the “Pom Wonderful Presents”). Along the way, Spurlock solicits commentary from progressive thinkers, such as Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky, as well as Hollywood types, like J.J. Abrams and Quentin Tarantino, who admits that a certain all-night diner rejected his offer to appear in Reservoir Dogs, even though he did most of his writing in their eateries. Spurlock even travels to São Paulo to see the effect of its recently enacted ban on outdoor ads: no billboards or messages on cabs and buses, rendering the city clean and downright dull for those accustomed to American-style marketing. The documentary as a whole resembles a full-length version of a Mad Men pitch meeting—but funnier. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Morgan Spurlock, producer Jeremy Chilnick, cinematographer Daniel Marracino, and editor Thomas M. Vogt, deleted scenes (34 min.), a “Workin' Nine to Five (AM)” behind-the-scenes featurette on the POM commercial (4 min.), commercials (4 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a segment from the Sundance Film Festival premiere (15 min.), “Shooting for Perfection: Hyatt & JetBlue” behind-the-scenes looks at commercials (5 min.), deleted scenes (15 min.), and the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an eye-opening doc.] (K. Fennessy)